TPO Profile Charts

Import or Export Chart Definitions

Here are two ways to Import a Chart Definition:

• Go to File > Open Definition and Browse to the location of the saved Chart Definition and open it.
• Copy the contents of the Chart Definition text file to your Clipboard and then go to File > Open > Definition.

Here is how to Export a Chart Definition:

• Right click the Chart and choose Share Picture. A window will appear. Choose linnsoft.com and Include Definition and then press Share. The chart will open in your browser and a link to the chart will be placed on your Clipboard.

Mark the Open of each period with an "O"

The letter O is reserved for the first TPO/print of each bracket (letter period).

The letter O will be printed if...

• It is the first TPO/print of the first bracket of the profile.
• It is the first TPO/print of any bracket of the profile if...
  • the brackets/letters are split into separate columns
  • the brackets are not split but the "letter color" is such that brackets can be distinguished by color. Such letter colors include Market Day, Rainbow, and Custom.

The logic behind this behavior stems from the fact that the opening letter O is only useful if the user is able to visually distinguish which bracket that O belongs to. When all the letters are the same color, and the profile is not split into separate columns, users are unable to identify which bracket each O belongs to, thus actual letter that corresponds to that bracket is printed instead. When brackets are split, or when brackets are painted with different colors, it's clear which bracket each TPO belongs to by the color or position, so an O can be printed for the opening print without any loss of information.

If a user would like to see the O's but is not using a letter color which provides for them, just shift-click on any profile to quickly split the letters into separate columns. The O's when then become visible and apparent. Shift-click the profile again to unsplit when done.

Display Overnight and Day Sessions separately

Simply setup the TPO Profile chart with the following preferences in the "Profiles" tab. Notice the "Special Profile Duration" is checked and setup with "Minutes: 930". In this example using session 31 (GLOBEX session), there are 930 minutes in the overnight period (from 18:00pm ET to 9:30am ET). This number of minutes may vary depending on the session you're using, but this is the most common setup. This will result in each day/session being split up into two profiles, one for the overnight period (18:00PM ET to 9:30AM ET) and another with the remainder of the session (9:30AM ET to 17:15PM ET).

Toggle between specific Sessions

Some users like to toggle between viewing the 24 Hour session (session 31) and another, shorter time frame session like the RTH session (session 0). Here's how to set it up:

Set the Instrument Settings to Session 31:

First, open the instrument Set-up window by clicking Alt-A from within the chart. Set the instrument settings to Session 31 and click OK.

Set up a Session Override:

Right click in the TPO Profile chart and choose Preferences and go to the Profiles Tab. Check the Session Override box and choose the alternate session you'd like to toggle to. Then click OK to close the preferences window.

Test your Settings:

Right click in the chart and choose session over ride to toggle to Session 0. Right click again and deselect session over ride to toggle back to Session 31.

Toggle Splits to View each Letter Separately

To view each letter separately, use the "Toggle Splits" feature. First, decide whether you want to view each letter separately for the whole chart, or just one Profile. If you'd like to Split just one day, right click that Profile and choose Toggle Splits - This Profile. To Toggle Splits on all Profiles, choose Toggle Splits - All Profiles.

What are Singles in TPO Charts?

In TPO Profile charts, "singles" refer to prices within profiles which only contain a single TPO/letter but which are surrounded (above and below) by prices with at least two TPOs. If you look at the TPO profile chart to the right, notice that singles were created in the N period, as those singles have double TPOs both above and below them. However, if you look at the P at extreme low of the profile, that is not considered a single because there are no prices below it which contain 2 or more TPOs.

Given this definition of "singles", and based on user feedback, when singles are taken out (when the current price moves to touch a single from a previous profile that had not currently been touched since it's creation), then it is theorized that price will commonly continue to the extreme price of the profile in which the single was created. Therefore, singles are labelled with the extreme price of the profile in which the single was created. That extreme price will be the high price of the profile if the single was made on the way down, and the low of the profile if single was made on the way up.

NOTE: Singles within the current/rightmost profile will be labeled with their actual price, and not the extreme price. The label will change to the extreme price once the next profile begins, as the extreme price is only relevant in future profiles.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: As of version 10.0, an option has been added to the Price Levels tab of the TPO Profile preferences window titled "Label Singles with Extreme Price of Profile". If this option is not checked, all singles will be labeled with their actual price.

Notice in the chart to the right, that singles were created on the way down in the N period. While there are technically 5 single prices, the highest single made on the way down is the key single. If singles are created on the way up, the lowest key single is the one with the lowest price. And since this single is made on the way down, it is labeled with the high price of the profile (which happens to be 779.00). It is believed that if price returns to 760.00 during a subsequent profile ("takes out" the single), then price will continue to the high (779.00) of the profile in which it was created.

Why are my TPO charts labeled with dates that appear to be one day off?

The profiles in TPO Profile charts are labelled with the date on which they began (since the label is placed to the left of the profile). Therefore, on an overnight profile, each session begins on one day and then proceeds into the next day. So, for instance, the profile representing the session from 3/17/09 4:30pm to 3/18/09 4:15pm will be timestamped 3/17 and not 3/18, even though the day session for that profile is contained in 3/18.

Value Area computations: Method A vs. Method B

Method A

First, we count the number of TPOs in the profile, and take 70% of that number (70% is configurable by the user). This is the number of TPOs we're looking for in our Value Area.

Next, the Point of Control (POC) is determined by finding the price which contains the most TPOs. If there is a tie (two or more prices with same number of TPOs), the price closest to the center of the profile is used as the POC. The number of TPOs in the POC are counted and this number is used as our initial TPO count. At this point the Value Area only comprises the POC and the number of TPOs in the POC.

We now inspect the two prices above and below the POC. If the two prices below the POC have more TPOs, those prices are added to the VA. Otherwise, the two prices above the POC are added. We increment our TPO count by the number of TPOs in the prices we just added to the VA. We continue repeating this process, adding two prices at a time, until we have met or exceeded our 70% TPO Count, and completed our VA. The upper price of this Value Area is considered the Value Area High (VAH). The lower price of the VA is considered the Value Area Low (VAL).

Method B

First, we count the number of TPOs in the profile, and take 70% of that number (70% is configurable by the user). This is the number of TPOs we're looking for in our Value Area.

Next, the Point of Control (POC) is determined by finding the price which contains the most TPOs. If there is a tie (two or more prices with same number of TPOs), the price closest to the center of the profile is used as the POC. The number of TPOs in the POC are counted and this number is used as our initial TPO count. At this point the Value Area only comprises the POC and the number of TPOs in the POC.

We now inspect the two prices above and below the POC. If the two prices above the POC have more TPOs, those prices are added to the VA. If the two prices below the POC have more TPOs, those prices are added to the VA. If there is a tie, we add both the two prices above and the two prices below. We increment our TPO count by the number of TPOs in the prices we just added to the VA.

We continue repeating this process until we come to the point where adding two prices would exceed our 70% TPO count, at which point we begin adding one price at a time using the same method. Once our 70% TPO count threshold is met or exceeded, our Value Area is complete. The upper price of this Value Area is considered the Value Area High (VAH). The lower price of the VA is considered the Value Area Low (VAL).

View Bid or Ask volume within each TPO/letter

Prior to version 10.1 Beta 14, users could point at any TPO in the TPO chart and view the volume, buy volume, sell volume, and delta of that single letter within the Info Box.

This feature was removed (by default) in versions 10.1 Beta 14 and later, as storing these volume levels within each TPO increase the memory consumption of TPO charts 3-fold. There are two ways to recover this feature.

• Set the "Letter Color" (in the "Letter" tab of the TPO Preferences) to either "Delta (TPO)" or "Volume (TPO)". Once you make that change, close and reopen the TPO chart and the information should be available again in the Info Box.

• Go to *File > Preferences > Configuration and use the Find box to search for the Configuration Variable called MPLoadVolPerTPO and set this to True and press OK. Then Save your TPO chart and reopen it. Keep in mind this feature does pay a price in memory consumption.

Add TPO style to a Multi-Pane chart

Many of the visual aspects of Market Profile charts can be added to a Multi-Pane chart. Click here to learn more.